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Planet Structure

The uniquely red global surface of Mars is marked by many interesting
features - some like those on the Earth and others
strangely different. The reddish color is caused by rust
(iron oxide) in the soil.

Of these features, the most interesting includes the
apparently dead volcano Olympus Mons, which rises 23 km (~75,000 ft)
above the surrounding plains and is the highest known peak in the
Solar System. Valles Marineris is a giant canyon system that runs
about 2,500 miles across the surface of the planet and reaches depths
of 6 km or 4 miles (for comparison, the Grand Canyon is not more
than 1 mile deep).

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On this map of Mars, the lightly cratered Tharsis Ridge is shown, as well as the heavily cratered Martian highlands (near the bottom of the picture), and Valles Marineris to the right. The volcanoes are...more

The largest volcano in the solar system is Olympus Mons, shown in the image to the left. Olympus Mons is a Martian shield volcano. The altitude of Olympus Mons is three times the altitude of the largest...more

Valles Marineris is a large system of canyons, shown in this image, that stretches 4000 km (2500 mi) along the equator of Mars. It was first imaged in detail by Mariner 9. The scene to the left (centered...more

Just as Goldilocks found the porridge that was just right, the Earth seems to be just right for conditions favorable to life. The reasons have to do with the fact that the Earth seems to be the perfect...more

This image shows how cold the surface of Mars can be. The temperature data is from the Mars Global Surveyor mission. The scale to the left shows that purple regions are the coldest, about -170 degrees...more

There are two main weathering agents on Mars: wind and acid fog. Although acid fog can be very important, because large amounts of water are not readily accessible from the Martian surface, the action...more

Separate from the Martian outflow channels, or the river valley networks, are large Martian lakes (600 km, or ~1000 miles across) which exhibit evidence of a periodic and catastrophic release of water...more

This is an image of fog in a Martian canyon. The presence of fog provides evidence of water, and a water cycle on Mars. More fog has been seen in images returned by Mars Global Surveyor of the south polar...more